Trigun

This has to be one of the most amazing Anime series ever made. It combines some of the funniest and absurd physical and intellectual comedy with a powerful drama and sense of what I would consider to be Horror in the emotional sense.

Vash has to be one of the most contradictory characters in any anime. A Gunfighter who hates killing. Nearly Immortal, yet vulnerable. Power to destroy all life on a planet, but upset at the death of a bug... It really is amazing.

If I had to choose any series which has impacted my own sense of ethics, this would be it.

The concepts of Life and Death, Good and evil are brought to the line in the grey... Not the blurry grey area, but the pencil thin line within the miles of grey.

The goodness of Milly, the callousness of Nick, the pride of Meryl, the hate of knives, and the love of Vash... Though through it all, even the smallest character is "Fleshed out" with a multi-faceted personality. It really is amazing.

Though I would not recommend this for young children, I believe that rational adults people can only come out better people after seeing it.

The Trigun anime series is a magnificent addition to anime of today. It starts off with about twelve or so episodes with the average hero-saves-the-day motive, but there is always a big mystery left behind for our hero, Vash: Who in the world IS he!?

About halfway through the series, Vash is caught up in the midst of his brother, Knives, who wants nothing better than to see Vash suffer. Vash has one weakness, and a pretty serious one at that: He cannot kill ANYBODY or else he'll risk total, mental damnation. So, what's one thing that Knives does? He sends out about a dozen totally unique fighters dubbed the "Gung Ho Guns", whose job is to drive Vash to kill them.

This series does a great job at bringing in well-made characters and has its share of comical humor along the way. All that I can add is that when the final episode came to an end, one word kept circling through my head: Wow. Plus, it's fun choosing which of the "Gung Ho Guns" is your favorite. Personal choice of mine: Caine the Longshot.

I'm not really big into these here Japanese cartoons, but this is one of the two that I really like.

Trigun really throws off people that watch it. When it starts out, it's pretty funny as Vash takes on a series of fairly harmless and minor thugs and villains. If that's all you're looking for in the series, I wouldn't recommend watching the second half of the series.

The second half really gets dark in its viewpoints. It really shows that there's a human side as Vash fights with both his enemies and himself. So if you're looking for some comedy and darker views on life, I'd really recommend Trigun.

A lot of animes set people off. Slow beginnings, long series, and lack of substance make a lot of anime shows completely unwatchable to the newcomer.

Those animes should take a lesson from Trigun. If there was ever an anime that told a story best in 26 episodes, it's definitely this one. Vash The Stampede, a supposed outlaw with a $$60 million reward, must set out to find where his life started and how to go on now. On his journey he is tagged along by reporters Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, and is later accompanied by the gun-toting priest Nicholas D. Wolfwood.

Every episode has its own wonderful story and solves a little more of the mystery of Vash's life, always wanting you hungering for more but feeding you enough to love that episode just as much as any other. I, for one, was very able to connect to the characters as each has their own colorful and lovable personality. It brought a lot of life to an anime series that you aren't treated to often.

There's no way you can't enjoy Trigun - it's an anime series for all and definitely one that will last throughout anime history as one of the best. It may not be glittered with massive CG and high-budget animation, but that's not what is important. If you haven't seen this yet, go see it now.

Being a fan of the more "magical girl" type of anime (Sailor Moon, Magic Knight Rayearth, Card Captor Sakura), I was a little hesitant to sit down and watch Trigun, given its rough-and-tumble looking guy on the front, and all the images of guns and violence. After viewing the first episode, I was clamoring for more.

Vash the Stampede is a wanted man. Nicknamed the "Humanoid Typhoon," he brings destruction to any town he passes through. Because of this, a $$60 billion bounty has been put on his head. The Bernardelli Insurance Agency has also dispatched two of its agents, Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson, to find Vash and report on why he causes every town that he passes through to be utterly destroyed.

What they find is that the Humanoid Typhoon isn't quite what he seems. If one wants to be blunt, Vash is more or less a dork. He has a very strong aversion to taking another human life, instilled in him as a boy by his guardian Rem. Though he is an exceptional gunslinger, Vash would rather roam from town to town spreading the message of "Love and Peace!". Unfortunately, many bounty hunters are motivated by the immense bounty on Vash's head, and it is the battles between Vash and these bounty hunters that destroy every town Vash comes to.

Along the way, we meet a motley band of characters, most notable among them being the gunslinging preacher Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who has an unholy surprise in the cross he carries on his back, and Legato, the one man that Vash seems to actually fear. Ultimately, it is a man named Knives Millions that Vash seeks. Who is Knives, what is his connection to Vash, and why does Vash want to find him so badly?

Trigun offers a new twist on the American western, without doing something as drastic as set the whole series in space, as anime often does. Another twist is the characterization of its hero as not always perfect. Like Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon, Vash the Stampede is a bit of a klutz, and, as mentioned before, quite the dork. When he has to, though, like Sailor Moon, he gets the job done effectively. He also has his "bishonen" moments that help to bring in the female viewers. Another departure from the usual is that the female characters are less fragile flowers than steel magnolias. Early on, Meryl and Milly show that they take no guff from sexist saloon patrons who look to terrorize them, thanks to Milly's superhuman strength. (If you think Vash and Wolfwood carry big guns, you haven't seen Milly's monster of a weapon.)

Trigun starts out as a comedy and remains so throughout the run of the series, though midway, as many anime tend to do, it takes a darker turn, as we get a look at Vash's past and find out what made him into the man known as the Humanoid Typhoon. The episodes are very well-paced, making you want more, not so much because you feel that there is something lacking, but because you get drawn into the story and its main players. Trigun appeals to both male and female viewers, whether you're into action, adventure, comedy, and/or drama. Little wonder why it has become very popular in recent years.